


Proximity

by cato_universe



Series: Touch [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: First Kiss, Gavin is a decent human being, Getting Together, Hugs, Idiots in Love, M/M, Nines is figuring out feelings, Sleepy Cuddles, Soft Gavin Reed, Soft Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Touch-Starved, no beta we die like men, no smut yet sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2020-01-24 13:43:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18572659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cato_universe/pseuds/cato_universe
Summary: It begins with an accident. When Nines is wounded, Gavin's hands on his face feel so wonderful that the android can't get enough of it.Androids don't need physical touch, right?And certainly Nines does not want Gavin to touch him again.Except, of course, he kinda does.





	Proximity

**Author's Note:**

> Nines deserves pets and cuddles too, okay? HE BABY!

When Gavin’s hands cupped Nines’ face, questing fingers frantically assessing the messy head wound, the shock to Nines’ system was so great that his vision blacked out with red warnings.

They were chasing a suspect, Nines hot on his heels and Gavin a few steps behind, when the criminal, realizing perhaps he was already defeated, pulled a hunting knife from the recesses of his jacket and turned to attack Nines. The scuffle was almost non existent. Nines’ preconstructions allowed him to render the man unconscious almost before Gavin turned the corner, at the price of a shallow gash above his right eyebrow.

The android thought nothing of it until he saw Gavin’s wide eyes. This was not the first time either of them had been wounded on duty, so perhaps something about the thirium running freely down Nines’ face set Gavin off, the android decided.

Nines had already opened his mouth to reassure the man when Gavin’s hands landed on his cheeks, making his system crash and causing his current predicament.

“Tincan,” Gavin called, obviously alarmed by Nines’ LED stuck in red. “What the fuck is wrong? Are you hurt elsewhere?” he demanded, and when Nines didn’t answer his hands slid down Nines’ neck to his shoulders, firmly and efficiently running over the android’s arms and chest, checking for injuries.

Nines opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

A quick scan told him that he was indeed not hurt, the slight thirium loss notwithstanding. And yet...

Gavin’s wandering hands returned to Nines’ face as he wiped the blue blood with more gentleness than he looked capable of, and a new flurry of warnings bloomed into life in Nines’ vision, making his processors lag, making him slow.

He did not know what was happening. The only thing he knew was that Gavin’s hands felt unbelievably good on his face, his touch sparking an electric reaction that resonated through Nines’ synthskin sending tingles all over him, firing up his sensors.

Warmth, Nines managed to think, from afar. He felt sluggish, but also safe, and as Gavin kept on wiping the thirium out of Nines’ face, the android’s eyes closed on their own account in an involuntary reaction, as if his other senses had decided he needed nothing to distract him from Gavin’s wonderful touch.

“ _Answer me_ god dammit!” Gavin ordered, the note of panic on his voice snapping Nines out of his trance. “Tell me what’s wrong!”

“Nothing’s wrong, Gavin,” Nines managed to answer, which was the truth but also a lie because as soon as the words left his mouth Gavin’s hands fell back to his sides, and Nines had to disable his voice modulator to silence the whine that wanted to leave his throat.

The case took priority after that, but Nines did not forget the strange reaction that Gavin’s touch stirred within him. He watched Gavin, both silent and curious, determined to figure out the reason of it, confident his superior investigative skills would find an answer sooner or later.

Gavin, he found out, was a very physical person. He could often be seen with an arm around Officer Chen’s shoulder. He stood too close to her all the time like an overly friendly cat and would constantly bump her when they walked anywhere. To other people Gavin was much less friendly, but not less physical. He used his hands to talk and slightly touched his colleagues shoulders to draw their attention or make a point. He lightly punched people on the arm when joking, and he didn’t shy away when a distressed innocent witness would touch him for comfort.

Nines was fascinated. As an analytical android, the physical dimension of his body was something he seldom thought about (at least not before Gavin had so gently touched his face). He knew humans had evolved as a tactile species, so it made sense touch was one of their biological imperatives. But androids?

Curious, Nines subtly began to mimic Gavin’s behavior. His first attempts did no go too well, judging by Lieutenant Anderson’s confused stare and Detective Collins’ nervous shifting at his proximity, but he didn’t let that discourage him. The first time Nines tried to punch Connor playfully on the arm, he did it with such strength that he knocked the coffee Connor had been trying to bring to the Lieutenant right off the android’s hands.

(Connor had looked more hurt and confused than angry, so Nines had hastened to explain his ongoing investigation. Connor had smiled and immediately forgiven him, much to his relief.)

However, it was not until the next time a junior detective wimpered while ducking from under Nines’ arm, as he heard Captain Fowler’s summons over Gavin’s choked laughter, that Nines realized his experiment had actually gone somewhat out of control.

“That detective just now almost peed himself when Nines grabbed him,” Fowler scowled, massaging his temples, but his words were directed at Gavin, who was chuckling in his chair in front of the Captain’s desk.

Nines was not programmed to feel embarrassment, but an unwelcome hot sensation enveloped him at the Captain’s rebuke. He was not meant to fail either, but in perspective he could see how clumsy his attempts to socialize by touch were and decided to stop it right that second. It was not like he had derived from it anything close to the pleasure he’d gotten from Gavin’s touch anyway.

Gritting his teeth, Nines held his hands tight behind his back, eyes on the floor. Shame was something he had never felt before, and did not enjoy it in the least.

“Oh, come on, Captain! It’s not like he’s harassing people. You know he’s dealing with his whole deviancy thing.” Gavin defended him. Although there was amusement hiding under his words, Nines could pick up his sincerity and it made him feel a bit better about himself. “He’s just trying to be friendly."

Fowler sighed. “You all are going to be the death of me,” he complained under his breath. “Right then, listen up,” he said to Nines. “I will not write you up or anything, but just--tone it down, okay? Maybe read other people’s non-verbal cues a little. And you--” he turned to Gavin. “Help him adapt. You’re his partner after all.”

“Like hell I will,” Gavin grinned, entirely too delighted by the situation. “I’m not his babysitter.”

When in the following days Gavin did not bring up the subject discussed on Captain Fowler’s office and basically acted like nothing happened, Nines told himself he was not disappointed.

 

* * *

 

It took Nines three days after the end of his experiment to figure out what should have been obvious from the beginning: Gavin touched everyone but him.

It was not some hypothesis that formed slowly on Nines’ mind. In truth, it was something trivial. Nines and Gavin were walking down the hall when another person left a room unexpectedly, walking towards them in a hurry. And Gavin, rather than crowding into Nines’ space so the other person could continue their path unobstructed, smoothly stepped to the side behind Nines and then returned to his original position, a complicated and inefficient movement that kept Gavin well outside Nines’ personal space.

Not even their shoulders brushed.

During the next couple of hours, Nines’ LED blinked amber intermittently as he reassessed his interactions with Gavin. Surely enough, other than the time Nines had been hurt, his physical contact with Gavin in the past few months was effectively zero. Nines did not want believe it. He kept going back in time to the very first time he met Gavin, but still not change: even when they had stopped begin hostile and their relationship became a tentative friendship, it was the same. Gavin had never actually so much as patted Nines’ shoulder in approval.

The pain on Nines’ chest at the realization was so sharp and mind-numbing that for a moment the android wondered if his thirium pump was not malfunctioning. Once again he watched Gavin, paying more attention to his own interactions with the man, and at the end of the day the answer was obvious. Gavin brushed fingers with even Connor without a thought, but when Nines had placed a hand on Gavin’s arm, the man jumped and pulled away as if burnt.

Unhappy, Nines went to his apartment that night, set an eight hour stasis, and tried not to think about what that meant.

 

* * *

 

Since he met Gavin, Nines had often thought how much simpler their relationship would be if Gavin were an android. That way they could synch, Nines reasoned, and understand each other better.

In his almost year on the DPD, this was something Nines had wished often, although he himself didn’t know when the wish had first taken hold of him. Had it been in those early, difficult months, full of barely concealed aggression and conflict? Or had it been later on, after they reached an understanding, when Nines grew to admire Gavin’s stubborn dedication to his job, his sharp intuition?

Nines did not know, but he had never been as grateful Gavin wasn’t an android as in the next few weeks.

There was something going on with Nines he himself didn’t understand, and it disturbed him. An ache he could not place, scan after scan coming out clean when he executed them. It was bad when he was in Gavin’s proximity, but it became worse when they were apart. It caused Nines to retreat behind his unfeeling persona again, the safe armor he had worn right after deviating, when he didn’t know himself enough to do otherwise.

Despite this, of perhaps because of it, Nines could feel Gavin’s eyes on him of late, assessing. The man’s gaze felt heavy on Nines’ skin, almost like a physical caress, and left him uncomfortable, warm, made him wonder if perhaps Gavin could read Nines’ tells after all, like an android would.

The thought made Nines incredibly nervous, hands tingling with an unknown sort of need. He dreaded Gavin finding out how his thirium pump quickened when they were in proximity, how badly Nines wanted to touch him and flee from his presence at the same time.

Nines’ conundrum would have been funny had it not been so stressful.

Eventually, the wish to touch reached such a point that Nines took to clasp his hands behind his back again, hence he gave into the temptation. But the constant strain of trying not to intrude into Gavin’s personal space took its toll. Nines felt tense all the time, alert, awkwardly conscious of Gavin’s presence at all moments.

It was maddening and uncomfortable, and it made total sense that Gavin, who although infuriating was far from stupid, picked up Nines’ discomfort.

So when one evening the man dragged Nines to an interrogation room, the android could not help but feel dread. The click of the lock when Gavin closed the door behind them was ominous and final, and it communicated a clear message: no more running away.

“Okay, what’s wrong?” Gavin demanded, straight to the point. He was trying to look casual, but by now Nines knew him enough to get a good read on him. Gavin was slumped, arms crossed, against the wall closest to the door. Nines didn’t miss how the man had felt necessary to put the table between them.

“Nothing’s wrong, detective,” he lied, noticing his slip even as the words left his mouth. Nines had not called Gavin by his title in a very long time.

It didn’t go unnoticed by Gavin either, if the way his eyebrows climbed his forehead was any indication.

“Yeah, right, that’s bullshit,” he huffed. “Look, just tell me what I did. I’m an asshole, but even I can notice you’re--dunno--upset with me. So tell me why and let’s be done with it.”

“I’m not--Gavin I’m not mad at you--”

“Really? Because half the time you look like a kicked puppy and the other half like you want to strangle someone. You’re worse than Connor that way.” At the mention of Connor, Nines remembered an instance earlier that day when Gavin had dismissed the other android with a tap on his shoulder, and something burning gripped Nines’ chest, ugly and uncontrolled. “See?” Gavin pointed out. “That’s what I’m talking about.”

Had he been human, Nines would have fidgeted.

“It’s nothing--” he began.

“Look, dipshit, I’m not fucking blind--”

“Gavin, please--”

“Why won’t you just fucking say it and--”

“ _Because I don’t know!_ ”

Nines’ raised voice echoed in the empty room, bouncing off the walls with an eerie mechanical quality. Out of the corner of his eye, Nines saw Gavin uncross his arms and take a step forward, but he couldn’t face him. Instead, he turned around and paced, the words spilling from his lips now that the dam had broken.

“I don’t know! It--you touched my face and I can’t stop thinking about it. It felt--I--I tried to find out if it felt the same with everyone else, but they don’t even want me close, so I--I don’t know--”

“Wait, wait,” Gavin said, approaching Nines with his palms extended in a gesture of peace. He frowned. “Is this about the sudden proximity thing you have going on?”

Nines nodded miserably. “It felt good when you did it, so I wondered…”

Gavin actually whistled. “My fucking god, Nines, are you _touch starved_?”

“Unlike humans, touch is not something androids require,” Nines defended, but it sounded uncertain even to his own ears.

Gavin, being Gavin, of course latched unto the most annoying implication of Nines’ admission. “What, doesn’t Connor hug you or something?”

“No,” Nines answered, suppressing the urge to cross his own arms. “While we are emotionally close, my relationship with him is not one of physical closeness.” The truth was that the possibility had not even occurred to him, but he was not about to admit that to Gavin.

Gavin stared for a couple of seconds before his expression went soft. “Huh. Okay. Hum...then who...I mean, do you…” Gavin trailed off, and when he finished his sentence his voice was gentle, modulated in the tone Nines had heard him use with children and those people who were too scared to face the world. “Have you ever been hugged?”

Nines closed his eyes, feeling exposed and raw. “No,” he whispered, voice small.

They stayed like that for several moments, Nines with his eyes closed and Gavin struggling with himself.

“Okay then,” Gavin broke the silence at last. “Come here.”

When Nines dared look, Gavin had his arms open in invitation. Although his face was set in his customary stubborn expression, he was not quite meeting Nines’ eyes and his ears were bright red.

Despite not needing it, Nines swallowed. His whole body ached with the need to accept Gavin’s offer, but he held himself back by thinking about the way Gavin flinched from only a brush of hands.

“Gavin, you don’t need to force yourself,” Nines said and it was hard. “I know the Captain tasked you to help me adapt but this goes beyond duty.”

Gavin’s mouth fell open in answer and he blinked as if disoriented.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he demanded. However, it was his arms slowly lowering, rescinding the invitation, that prompted Nines to speak quickly.

“I know you dislike my touch--”

“I what?” Gavin interrupted, frowning.

“Maybe it’s not voluntary, but you shy away from my touch,” Nines explained, becoming more and more desperate as he saw the shock descend on Gavin’s face. “You are in general a very physical person, but when I analyzed the data of our interactions it showed you refrain from contact when it’s me. You go to great lengths to avoid invading my space, and you flinch away whenever we touch.”

But even before Nines finished his explanation, he knew he was wrong by the shift on Gavin’s expression. Fascinated, he watched the man’s cheeks grow redder and redder the longer Nines spoke, and by the time he was finished Gavin had his mouth hidden under one hand, face averted, eyes downcast.

 _Oh_ , Nines thought, LED red, as his thirium pump tried to escape his chest. _Oh_.

“I misinterpreted it,” Nines breathed, in awe. “I misinterpreted you.”

As if his words had been a blow, Gavin snapped into action, turning on his heels and towards the door in one fluid movement. Nines, however, was faster, and managed to catch his wrist just as the man’s hand landed on the door’s lock.

“Gavin,” Nines pleaded into the silence of the room. Gavin’s breathing was coming fast, panicked, but after a couple of seconds his hand fell limp at his side, allowing Nines to turn him around.

Gently, not yet believing what was happening, Nines raised his free hand and ghosted it across Gavin’s cheek, a soft plea for Gavin to raise his eyes. It was a small touch, barely a brush of his fingertips, but still Nines trembled with it, with the possibility of being allowed to do something he had longed for, and with the dawning realization his desire truly meant.

Reluctantly, Gavin looked up, green-grey eyes locking with ice blue.

“W-what are you doing?” he stammered, trying to deflect, but Nines was not going to let him. Not when Gavin had been the one to lock the door, and not now that Nines finally understood his own heart.

“Reading non-verbal cues,” he answered, voice low, and stepped forward, taking in the way Gavin’s eyes darkened, his pulse skyrocketing. With a slow smile, Nines continued, “If that hug is still on offer…?”

Gavin licked his lips, nodded his acceptance, and Nines didn’t need to be told twice. He enveloped Gavin in his arms, pressing them flush together from chest to knee in a tight embrace.

It felt wonderful.

Nines was acutely aware of every inch they were in contact, for warmth radiated all through his body from his skin, a deep contentment settling on his circuits at the touch. After a couple of heartbeats, Gavin reached up and wrapped his arms around Nines, pressing his palms into the android’s back. Nines shuddered in answer, burying his face on Gavin’s shoulder and breathing him in.

Beyond the physical, there was something grounding to the contact, an odd relief that flooded Nines and soothed some hunger in him he hadn’t known he felt. It was a calmness that rose and crashed like a wave, a sense of belonging with this man, and Nines wanted to be closer than was physically possible, to melt into Gavin until he was completely surrounded by him, irrevocably connected.

“I don’t ever want to let you go,” Nines confessed.

Gavin cursed. “You--you just can’t say that kind of thing to people, tincan, for fuck’s sake--”

“Not to people. You.” Nines interrupted. Although he loathed to pull away even an inch, he leaned back enough to be able to look at Gavin in the eye. “I don’t think I realized until now, but it’s obvious in retrospective. The reason other people’s touch left me indifferent. It was only ever you who I wanted. Your attention.”

Nines slid his hands up from where they were resting on Gavin’s lower back, deliberately enjoying the feeling of the solid body under them, and he cupped the man’s face, tracing a plump lower lip. Gavin’s lashes fluttered, at the caress or at the words, Nines did not know.

“Gavin,” Nines called, urgently. “May I kiss you?”

Gavin’s answer was an unexpected grin, wicked and feral, and Nines desperately wished it meant yes because he longed to kiss it right off his face.

“You talk too much,” Gavin declared, and Nines had only a second of warning before hands fisted into the lapels his jacket to pull him downwards.

Although Gavin was the one who initiated the kiss, it was Nines who pressed Gavin’s back to the door, effectively pinning him in place. However, the kiss was gentle, tentative. Out of his element, Nines followed Gavin’s lead, mimicking the soft movements of the man’s lips, almost vibrating with the effort of restraining the hot pressure building on his chest just from that contact alone.

“Relax, tincan,” Gavin mumbled against Nines’ mouth, and threaded his fingers through Nines’ hair. “Don’t overthink it. Just--” Instead of finishing his sentence Gavin demonstrated by running his tongue over Nines’ bottom lip, nibbling gently at it. Nines shivered at the sensation, LED red as he processed the stimuli. “You okay?”

“ _Gavin_ ,” was the only thing Nines could say. His voice sounded low and raw, as if it were full of glass, and he had not ever been aware he could make that sound. This time, it was Nines who angled Gavin’s face up, and the way he claimed the man’s mouth was too hungry to be entirely sweet.

They kissed like that for a while, open mouthed and messy. The way Gavin went pliant under Nines’ kisses, the way he handed control and allowed the android to explore to his heart’s content, made the heat running through Nines feel like molten lava, kindling a new need he wasn’t sure how to process. So Nines kissed Gavin, trying everything he could think of-- from light, playful nips, to deep, throughout exploration.

It was dazzling, and addictive, and Nines felt greedy for it. He was certain he would never get tired of the silky texture of Gavin’s tongue, of the solid feeling of his body.

“Nines,” Gavin gasped between kisses, moaning when Nines silenced him with slightly forceful lips because the android was nothing if not a fast learner. “Fuck, slow down. You--” he trailed off, distracted when Nines mouthed at his neck, tasting the tender flesh there. “ _Shit_ , okay, enough,” he declared, weakly pushing at Nines chest. Although reluctantly, the android obeyed. He found incredibly difficult to keep his hands to himself, especially when Gavin looked so disheveled, face flushed and lips made cherry red by kisses. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but-- let’s talk first, okay?”

“Talk?” Nines echoed, deliberately obtuse just to be a dick.

“You hadn’t been hugged just five minutes ago, you’re greatly mistaken if you think I’m gonna fuck you in a damned interrogation room.” Gavin frowned and tried to cross his arms, but Nines was still so close he couldn’t, and had to content himself with cramming his hands on his pockets.

“Oh?” Nines raised an eyebrow. Unlike Gavin, who was human, Nines looked completely unruffled by their earlier activities, cool and composed as if he had only been doing paperwork. “Who said anything about fucking?”

“Shut up,” Gavin groaned, that delightful blush Nines was getting incredibly fond of blooming again high on his cheeks. “Just let me buy you dinner first or something.”

And Nines smiled. It was not something he did often, and indeed the gesture felt stiff on his face. Still, it was an expression of something that Gavin often caused within him, a bubbling affection that grew too much to keep contained, impossible to predict or control, much like the man himself.

Androids did not have a heart, but Nines thought this must surely be a lie, because emotion rose from his chest and spilled like water, overflowing until it enveloped every inch of Nines’ wires, every last bit of code, warming all the spaces of what he was.

“May I remind you that I don’t need to eat, detective?” he teased, touching two fingers to his lips to feel his own smile, proof of his happiness. To cherish the place Gavin had just kissed.

“You smarmy--” Gavin spluttered, but Nines chose that moment to lean down and quickly press their lips together, pleased when Gavin chased his mouth, as unable to resist Nines as Nines was to resist him.

They eventually returned to work, but that day every time their fingers brushed, Gavin did not flinch away. Instead, there was a small smile on his lips, and Nines cherished that as well.

 

* * *

 

“Close the door behind you, toaster, don’t just stand there like a gargoyle!”

Gavin’s irritated voice startled Nines out of his thoughts, making him realize he had indeed been standing immobile just inside Gavin’s apartment with the door open for a solid minute, his LED a lightshow.

Trying to navigate the choking wave of embarrassment that flooded his system, the android hurried to obey. Mimicking Gavin’s movements, he took off his shoes and aligned them carefully against the wall where Gavin had carelessly kicked his own off earlier. After a beat of hesitation he shrugged out of his CyberLife jacket as well and hung it, taking notice of the man’s own leather jacket and the old grey DPD hoodie beside it.

Those small tasks done, Nines brushed invisible dust from his black button down shirt, adjusted his cuffs, and ventured further into the apartment in search of Gavin.

Nines was not too sure himself why he had followed Gavin after their shift had ended. It felt natural at the time: after the moment they shared in the interrogation room --after Nines figured out his feelings for his detective, and realized those feelings were returned-- he had not wished to part from the man. He followed Gavin to his car in silence, not quite sure what exactly it was he wanted. And yet Gavin had taken one look at him, sighed, and gestured towards the passenger door with an exasperated, _Come on then, for fuck’s sake!_

And so now there Nines was, wondering what the hell he was doing and slightly anxious at the uncertainty of for once not having any information to base a preconstruction off on.

“Thank fuck Hashtag is not that big on the outside, or I’d have you chase her down the hall,” Gavin called from the kitchen. The cat in question was on top of the counter dividing the open kitchen from the living room, a big fluffy tortoiseshell that stared at Nines with expressive amber eyes.

“Hello,” Nines greeted her softly, and the cat stood from where she was supervising Gavin and walked to the other end of the counter to Nines, tail high. Curiously, she sniffed the hand Nines presented to her and, deciding he was okay, bumped her head against his palm in an obvious demand of pets. Then, what Gavin said finally dawned on him and he blinked. “Hashtag?”

Gavin huffed, busying himself at the other end of the small kitchen, but once again Nines saw the telling red of his ears, his movements suddenly siff. Looking down on the cat, he thumbed the small round tag attached to her collar and indeed, on one side it had Gavin’s number and on the other a small #.

“You...you named her--” Nines tried hard not to laugh, but the name was so _Gavin_ that he couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped him. Quickly, he raised his free hand to his mouth to try and muffle the sound, the tension he had felt earlier finally leaving his body.

“She goes by asshole most of the time,” Gavin defended, “she actually reminds me of you.”

The cat, who was still being pet by Nines, threw a glare back at Gavin, as if unimpressed by his assessment. Gavin scowled back at her, and the interaction was so nonsensical that Nines couldn't hold back his laughter any longer.

“Fine, be that way,” the man mumbled, but Nines didn’t miss the way Gavin did a double take when he finally looked at Nines, eyes sweeping over his body.

Belatedly, Nines realized this was the first time Gavin had seen him without his uniform jacket and lowered his eyes, feeling both fluttery and self-conscious.

The sound of kibble landing on a ceramic plate broke the thick tension in the kitchen. Hashtag jumped off the counter, abandoning Nines in favor of loudly demanding Gavin to hurry and feed her already.

“Yeah, yeah, here you go you gremlin,” Gavin told her as he placed her food bowl on the floor.

They didn’t talk further as Gavin busied himself with his dinner. Nines couldn’t help but stare. Although the meal was not complicated, Nines wouldn’t have thought Gavin cooked at all. Yet, the way Gavin moved was practiced, almost thoughtless, as he prepared a simple stir fry. There was something intimate in watching Gavin cook in his socks, shirt rolled up past his elbows. It made him want to cross the kitchen and wrap his arms around the man’s waist, pull him against his chest, kiss a line from Gavin’s ear to the base of his neck.

Suddenly, a sense of unease overtook Nines. He felt out of place amidst Gavin’s obviously well-rehearsed routine, unsure of himself. What was he doing? Was he allowed to act on his desires? What was it that he expected of Gavin, what did Gavin even expect of him?

He did not know, and the uncertainty was scary. He wished he knew how other people figured these things about themselves.

“I can hear you freaking out all the way over here, tincan,” Gavin told him, interrupting his thoughts. Smoothly, the transferred the stir fry from the wok to a bowl and began shoving food into his mouth like eating was a chore that had to be done quickly. He didn’t even sit down. “Look, if you regret--”

“No!” Nines’ voice was too loud in the silent kitchen. The cat flinched at his raised voice, looking cautiously up from her own dinner before she decided whatever was going on was not her problem and buried her face on the food bowl once again. “No,” Nines repeated, softer this time. He didn’t even need Gavin to finish that sentence. There was nothing he regretted in regard to him.

Gavin sighed. “Okay.” He looked thoughtful as he finished his dinner, but didn’t speak again until the kitchen was clean and he was drying his hands on a flowery rag. “Right, tincan, honesty time,” he began, facing Nines. “Why did you follow me home?”

“Technically, you allowed it,” Nines answered immediately, but deflated under Gavin’s stern expression, LED blinking amber. “I wanted to be close to you,” he admitted in the end, because he knew that much at least, even if he hadn’t figured out the rest.

Gavin searched for something on his face for a long moment --Nines tried not to give away how nervous he felt under the scrutiny-- before nodding in acceptance.

Desperately, Nines wished he knew what it was Gavin understood, because he did not know himself.

“Yeah, okay. I can work with that. Come with me,” and turning around Gavin guided Nines through another door that turned out to be Gavin’s bedroom. Unlike the rest of the flat, it was oddly empty, with just a bed covered by a forest green coverlet, a bedside table with a lamp, a clock and a tablet on it, and a laundry basket with a pile of clothes inside it.

Nines looked around curiously, although he felt oddly jittery at the sight of the bed. Gavin, oblivious of Nines’ nervousness, opened his closet and rummaged through his drawers until he found what he was looking for.

“Here,” he said as he pressed a shirt and a pair of boxers to Nines’ chest. “I don’t have anything bigger, sorry. These will have to do for now.”

Nines’ LED blinked in confusion. “Gavin?”

“Change into that, toaster, I’m not having you in my bed in a fucking dress shirt.”

Nines was glad he couldn’t blush, because he was certain he would have right then. He went into Gavin’s bathroom to change, the newness of the experience making his LED jump between blue and yellow.

The t-shirt that Gavin gave him was obviously old, judging by the faded logo of a band Nines didn’t know. The fabric of it was thin, well worn with use, and it felt pleasantly soft against Nines’ skin. The android caressed it softly, marveling at the difference of texture between it and his CyberLife uniform.

As he neatly folded his own clothes and redressed in Gavin’s, Nines thoughts fled briefly to Connor. His predecessor had tried to convince him on several occasions to buy different clothes, an action Nines had considered wasteful and useless, as his uniform was perfectly serviceable. Now, eying the silly rainbow cats flying through space printed on the boxers Gavin lent him, and feeling the silky texture on his skin, he thought he perhaps understood the appeal of owning clothes one liked. Comfortable clothes.

Once he was done changing, he stopped to stare at his reflection in the mirror. The android looking back at him was almost unrecognizable. Used as Nines was to clothes that completely covered him, his bare arms and legs seemed to him oddly naked, sickly pale under the yellow glow of the fluorescent light bulb.

For a moment, he felt very small, painfully self conscious again. The strange ache he felt before overwhelmed him again, the need to touch. However, before he could work himself into a panic, Gavin’s voice came muffled through the door from the living room, where he apparently was arguing with the cat.

Nines relaxed. Trust was not something he had been programmed to feel, but still he knew he trusted Gavin enough to guide him through whatever it was he was feeling. Maybe that was why he had come here.

His small crisis over for the time being, Nines left the relative safety of the bathroom and returned to Gavin’s bedroom. He sat primly on the edge of the bed, his uncertainty morphing into nervous excitement. He listened to Gavin going about his nightly routine, washing his face and teeth. When he entered the bedroom he was wearing loose plaid pajama pants and a t-shirt that read _Super mega foxy awesome hot._

Nines rolled his eyes at it.

Gavin’s answering smirk was wicked. In silence, he paddled around the bed in bare feet and slid under the covers in one smooth movement, propping his back on a pillow.

“Come here,” he told Nines, beckoning the android with a extended hand.

Nines obeyed. Still uncertain of the proceedings, he allowed himself to be guided down. However, instead of being pulled on top of Gavin for a kiss as he half expected, the man arranged them so Nines’ head was resting on top of his chest. Then, he gently cradled his fingers through the android’s hair, running his fingers over Nines’ scalp in slow motions.

Nines tensed up at the unexpected sensation, mouth open in a silent gasp.

Immediately, Gavin stilled.

“You alright?” he checked, but even before the words left his lips Nines was pushing his head back into the man’s hands like a needy cat, already missing the contact. “Fine, fine, I get it,” Gavin chuckled. His laughter rumbled in his chest right under Nines’ ear, and that sent a different kind of shiver through the android’s body.

It took a couple of minutes for Nines to process the stimuli enough that he could fully relax into the contact, but in the end the tension melted under Gavin’s clever hands. Nines felt all his worries leave him the longer the touches continued, and in a bout of inspiration he wrapped his arms around Gavin’s waist, nuzzling into the soft fabric of his shirt, pleased with the way Gavin’s heart beat faster at the new closeness.

“Damn it, you are gonna give me a heart attack,” Gavin complained, but resumed petting Nines’ hair, moving his hands down Nines’ back and up again in continuous fluid motions.

They stayed like that for a while, until Nines’ advanced brain became blissfully empty, his sensors humming with the sweet flow of physical stimuli. He felt incredibly happy, floaty, although it was a raw sort of happiness he had never felt before, as if he would burst into tears if Gavin so much as expressed the minimal hint of approval of him.

Thankfully, Gavin said nothing. He kept petting Nines’ hair for a long time, drawing senseless shapes on Nines’ back at random intervals. When Gavin’s movements began to falter, Nines looked up to find the man nodding off, eyelids heavy.

“Sleep, Gavin,” Nines whispered, voice thick with emotion.

He guided the man down the bed and tucked him in as best he could. Sleepily, Gavin rolled over and maneuvered Nines until the android got the hint and got under the covers as well, laying on his side so Gavin could spoon him.

“Okay?” the man slurred against Nines’ neck, and Nines smiled.

“Yes. Better than okay.”

This was certainly not what he had thought they might do once in Gavin’s bed, especially not after the kisses in the interrogation room, but Nines found he wanted it no other way. Gavin was a warm weight behind him, an arm thrown over Nines’ chest to rest on his stomach, legs entwined.

With a contented sigh, Gavin snuggled closer and pressed a sleepy kiss on the back of Nines’ neck before his body relaxed, breathing evening out as sleep finally took him.

Like that, the last of that odd aching hunger Nines felt left him. For a moment he listened to the unfamiliar sounds of the flat, registering the noise of the pipes and the cat’s soft paws wandering the apartment. Unable to stop smiling, he set a five hour stasis, so he would have time to enjoy this again in the morning, and cocooned himself in the peaceful security Gavin had so selflessly offered him.

Then, feeling happy and warm, Nines allowed himself to go into stasis.

 


End file.
